The self-run condo board is not taking care of the maintenance of our complex. Shingle, roof, painting and paving have not been addressed in years. We pay on an average of 350.00 a month in HOA fees. What recourse do the owners have to get action and for the board to be held accountable to provide proper upkeep for our complex? Is there a state board that we can contact that can help us?

Mister Condo replies:

D.T., I am sorry that you find yourself at odds with your Board over care and maintenance of your complex. I wish I could say that you were alone in your dissatisfaction but the truth is that many associations simply haven’t saved enough money over the years to appropriately maintain their properties. This leads to the unpopular Special Assessment and the equally unpopular increase to common fees. In your case, $350 per month should likely be adjusted to $450 per month or higher. That way, the current expenses of the association could be paid and a healthy contribution to the Reserve Fund for future repairs could be established. As for the immediate needs of the association, a loan or Special Assessment is very likely needed. From the brief list you have provided, I wouldn’t be surprised if $10,000 or more per unit would be needed. If unit owners can’t afford that kind of one-time payment, then a loan (which will also increase common fees and have the additional expense of interest) is in order. The bottom line is that Boards of Directors turn over in condo associations over time. Each new Board inherits the good or bad practices of the previous Board. In associations that require maintenance on 20 to 30 year-old buildings, that means either having the money to do the projects from the great fiscal planning of previous Boards or picking up the pieces from poorly thought out Reserve Fund planning. Guess which kind of association you live in? The bottom line is that it takes money to perform the needed maintenance and that money only comes from one place – the owners. It sounds to me like it is time for your association to pay the piper. Of course, all of the unit owners have a say in raising common fees and Special Assessments. Neither are popular and both have real consequences to owners, including forcing out the folks who can’t pay up. However Darwinian as this sounds, it is the way of the world. I wish you and your community good luck in solving this difficult problem.

I own a condo in a building without deck units, whereas other buildings in the condo have decks attached to their units. Since a deck or balcony is not a common element, I feel that it is not fair to be asked to pay $2,000.00 for the repairs of other units’ decks. Plus, I was appalled to learn at one of the meetings that some decks were repaired not long ago but the shabby job done made them fall apart in the following year. The Board of Directors members, who, by the way, have decks to their units, were quiet about it at the meeting. The association should be held accountable for not preventing such a failure. Instead they are imposing a lot of money to cover their mismanagement on many other units without a deck. Many of owners are elderly, as myself, living on a limited income. To involve a lawyer to fight such an abusive manner in the court, cost a lot of money which we cannot afford. As a matter of fact, I have already got a letter from the association, to be informed that a lawsuit including a foreclosure is intended on me. I have to add the association couldn’t provide, at my lawyer request, a copy of the relevant portions of the By-Laws, Rules, or Regulations which authorize the imposition of such assessment on me. Where should I address this issue other than here? I think that an investigation is overdue on Property Management at my association.

Mister Condo replies:

D.U., I am sorry you find yourself at such odds with your association. To hear that you are being threatened with foreclosure now tells me things have progressed even further than your letter lets on. Let’s start with what comes next so that you don’t lose your home. You have hired an attorney to represent you and that is critical to protect your rights. He has asked for the supporting documentation giving them the right to assess and then foreclose for failure to pay the assessment in timely fashion. I can assure you that they do have the right to collect assessments from you and they can foreclose against you if you don’t pay the assessments. You also have rights and you may be able to sue them if the assessment was passed incorrectly or if the decks are not common elements, as you claim. Unfortunately, my guess is that the decks are considered common or limited common elements and that you may, in fact, be liable even though your unit does not have a deck. I realize that this seems unfair but unless you or your lawyer can show where they have done something wrong, the assessment will stand and you will be held liable. There is no central authority in our state to investigate the management of your association and I am not an attorney and offer no legal advice here. You have already hired an attorney which is your best option to see this through. I wish I had better news for you here but I think the only real problem here is an understanding of how a condominium association operates and governs itself. Hopefully, your attorney will help you navigate this legal turmoil. All the best!

My daughter bought a condo where her association fees are $450.00 per month. Due to future major roof improvement job her payment will increase by $300.00. We feel the seller had to know about this upcoming project and didn’t reveal this very crucial information. The other choice to pay would be a one-time payment for $22,000.00 per unit. There are 40 units. Something doesn’t seem legal here. Your thoughts.

Mister Condo replies:

C.P., I am sorry for your daughter’s predicament. It is quite possible that the previous owner was aware that there was a possibility of a Special Assessment but unless the Special Assessment had already been passed and levied against the unit owners of record, it is unlikely that they did anything illegal. In fact, the knowledge that this Special Assessment was looming may have been a very important factor in his/her decision to sell. You can and should speak to an attorney to make sure the seller had already been informed of the assessment and failed to provide that information. If they signed a disclosure statement where they lied about the Special Assessment, you may very well have a case. All the best!

Can an association charge maintenance fees for a condemned building that has legally been condemned by the city of Hartford because of a fire that caused structural damage?

Mister Condo replies:

J.B., condemnation does not prevent common fees from being charged and collected. Condemnation simply means the building has been deemed unsafe and uninhabitable. The building and the association are still incurring other expenses that are part of the maintenance fees and all unit owners are still beholden to their covenants to pay those fees. I know it seems to fly in the face of reason that maintenance fees are collected on a condemned property but unless the association is dissolved (unlikely), the common fees continue to accrue and the association is entitled to collect. I hope they get the building repaired or rebuilt in timely fashion for you and other unit owners. Good luck!

in Connecticut, if an association Annual Meeting is held and a Special Assessment is being brought before unit owners to be voted on, does the specific amount need to be disclosed in the notice to unit owners? Our agenda said “discussion of” the project … should it have said “vote on special assessment” for the project? Question 2 – What if the board agreed to a dollar amount to bring before the association for vote and at the association meeting it was increased and voted in favor by the unit owners.

Mister Condo replies:

K.G., as long as the Meeting was properly noticed and the Special Assessment discussion was on the agenda, it is unlikely that the Board did anything wrong with regards to notice. Ditto to the actual amount of the Assessment after the Meeting was held. That being said, your association’s governance documents may provide for a special procedure for levying Special Assessments and that protocol would have needed to be followed. There may also be a limit on the percentage or size of the Special Assessments. At the end of the day, if the association is short of money needed for repairs and maintenance, the details of how the Special Assessment is issued is secondary to the problem that enough money was not collected by the association to pay for the repairs that are now needed. Special Assessments are patently unfair but necessary when needed. The sweetness of low common fees is soured when the money is needed for the repairs. I hope your association gets through this turmoil and gets itself back on track financially in the near future. It is quite possible that common fees need to be raised substantially to make that happen. That won’t be very popular amongst owners but it will avoid these Special Assessments in the future. All the best!

My condo association is planning on replacing all the roofs. We got a letter stating we will have to come up with almost 9,000 dollars or have a monthly increase of 200.00 for 60 months. Can they make us do that? Also, they are having a meeting. In this regards, what questions should be asked at that meeting? I appreciate your help and expertise.

Mister Condo replies:

T.S., owning a condominium is kind of like being a partial owner of a business. From time to time, business decisions need to be made about how to protect and maintain the business. In this case, it would appear that an insufficient amount of common fees has been collected for many years, resulting in a deficit when it came time to replace the roofs. The correct procedure would have been to have had higher monthly dues for the many years leading up to this now needed roof replacement. The Board can and must replace the roofs or they may subject unit owners to damage and worse. There is only one place where this money can come from – the unit owners. So, a special assessment has been levied to cover the cost of the roofs. You and your fellow unit owners now must decide if you can afford the one-time payment of $9,000 or if you would rather pay an extra $200 per month for 60 months, totaling $12,000 per unit. I know if it were me, I wouldn’t want to get stuck with an extra $3000 in interest for what amounts to a $9,000 loan but not all unit owners will be able to easily come up with the $9000 and I expect many will take the $200 per month option. As for what you should ask at the meeting, I would want to know what other special assessments lie ahead and how soon. Chances are if they didn’t have enough money in the Reserve Fund to pay for the roof, they might not have enough for other association-owned items. Siding for the buildings? Pool and club house? Tennis Courts? What other expenses are coming up? It is quite possible that the roofs are just the tip of the iceberg. Ultimately, you would like to see a Reserve Study and funding plan introduced to the community so as to avoid these special assessments in the future. All the best!

If an owner who has NOT paid Condo fees for a considerable amount of time (4yrs), can the condo association revoke the owner from parking in their assigned parking spot? Also, can the association revoke the privilege of having a storage unit?

Mister Condo replies:

C.S., typically speaking, the association may not remove any of the delinquent unit owner’s rights. In fact, if the association takes such action against the delinquent unit owner, they will very likely be sued by that unit owner. Delinquent common fee collection is separate from unit owner’s rights. There is a process that the association should be undertaking to collect this serious delinquency. That involves collection letters, demands, liens, and, ultimately, foreclosure against the unit. There are many collection firms and law firms in our state to assist the association. Do it the right way, and you’ll get your money. Do it the wrong way and the association will likely end up getting sued. Step carefully and get the money. Good luck!

I am a first-time home owner. For the first 2 years I lived in my unit I tried to be active in my (small) HOA, but the main Trustee never had time for me and HOA meetings were always cancelled. When he sold his unit, he hurriedly gave me a “crash-course” on duties a week before the closing. It wasn’t until weeks after that I realized he had conned me. He left me with unpaid bills (some a year old!), angry contractors, and one unit egregiously in the hole to the HOA. After weeks of talking with my neighbors, I got them to agree to a payment plan: they agreed to pay a minimum of their balance every month for 6 months—enough time to figure something out—and after 6 months they had to pay in full every month. A year later they are still only paying the minimum and have become even more in debt to the HOA with back fees and Reserve Studies. A friend’s wife—who is a lawyer—is helping me out with the lien process, but my question is this: what should I expect? This family (a retired couple and their adult son) have lived here for 20 years and now I (this young newcomer) is going to be threatening foreclosure. We all live in the same small building, run into each other often, and share a common stairwell. I feel terrible that I’m the one that’s going to be “evicting” them, but obviously they cannot afford to live here—we have not been able to do basic, needed maintenance for years because of their finances.

Mister Condo replies:

L.P., heavy is the head that wears the crown, my friend. People who purchase into an HOA do so at their own choosing. They are aware of the fees and costs associated with owning a home, condo, or unit within an association. While you are the embodiment of the HOA as it takes action against them for defaulting on their duty to pay their fees in timely fashion, they are also the makers of their own destiny. They need only look in the mirror to see the folks responsible for their demise. In fact, it is you they should be thanking for carrying their weight as they neglected to pay their fair share over the years. Where did they think the money would come from if they didn’t pay? Did they not realize that they were in fact forcing their neighbors to pay more than their fair share because they weren’t willing or able to pay theirs? You asked what should you expect? That’s really hard to say at this point. My guess is if these folks are insolvent, they will eventually be foreclosed upon and you will sell their unit and hopefully find some new owners who will fulfill their obligation to pay their fair share of the common fees. Eventually, the association should regain financial strength and get itself back on track. That is the nature of HOAs. The HOA is a not-for-profit business, the key word being “business”. Business is conducted under the terms of business agreed to by all parties. As long as those terms are met, the business thrives. When/if a party defaults, the business protects itself by exercising the clauses that make it a business, no more, no less. You are on the right track to getting back to business. Good luck!

I live in an 85-unit condo complex that was built in 1970. Many of our residents have lived here since the 80s. Unfortunately for us, the Reserve Study we reviewed before buying listed the HOA health as good and properly funded. The Reserve Study issued a month after our purchase brought to light a number of upcoming expenses to maintain the buildings due to age. What many of the new owners are discovering now is that for years the association kept unit dues very low and avoided large repairs until needing emergency repairs. Now they are increasing dues rapidly to help pay for aged repairs- such as replumbing of the buildings. Our dues have increased by over 50% in a few years. Dues increases and assessments are incurred based on % of ownership, but is there a legal option (perhaps through a change to by-laws) that would allow for a special assessment based on years of ownership to place some of the financial burden on those that enjoyed years of rock-bottom dues at the expense planning ahead?

Mister Condo replies:

A.C., I am sorry that you and your fellow units are left paying the bill for previous unit owners. The sweetness of low monthly fees is often replaced with the vial reality of special assessments and higher common fees for future owners. There is currently no laws that allow for associations to go back and recoup additional common fees or assessments from previous unit owners. All that you can do as an association is to buckle down, address the reality of the situation and base future common fees on a properly funded Reserve Fund for when these common elements will need replacing next time. Otherwise, you will very likely find the next generation of unit owners feeling the same way you do now when there is no money available to them to make the repairs and replacements for the common elements you are about to replace and use for decades ahead. It is a vicious cycle but, with planning and proper budgeting, it can be managed. Good luck!

After living in my condo unit for many years, the roof recently came off during a rainstorm. The Association’s master policy is paying for the property damage which means they will put the home back to the state it was sold to me. However, do I have any legal recourse against the property management company and the board for not maintaining the roof in good order in addition to what the insurance will cover. The roof was originally scheduled for replacement in August. My roof came off in July. The state of the roof of my unit as well as the other roofs in the building unit I am in was in very poor shape. It appeared as though the roof should have been replaced or maintained quite some time ago. I was wondering if I had any recourse against either or both parties for not maintaining the property at the level it should. I have always paid my condo fee in full and feel I deserve to have my property maintained.

Mister Condo replies:

D.N., poorly maintained condos are almost always the result of “deferred maintenance”, the polite term for not collecting enough common fees to make adequate Reserve Fund contributions over the years. I am sorry that you had a such a direct impact from such a poorly maintained roof and I am glad that you have had the benefit of insurance to help you rebuild. As for your ability to seek additional damages against the association, I am doubtful. That isn’t to say you couldn’t try but the reality is no real crime was committed here. The Board is democratically elected by the unit owners like yourself and has likely changed over many times in the years of neglect involved. The Property Management company does the bidding of the Board so they are not at fault. Who exactly would you sue? The association paid to replace your roof after it failed so they fulfilled their obligation as well. I am not an attorney and offer no legal advice here. My friendly advice is to be happy that you have been made whole by insurance and that no one was injured by the failed roof. You might ask the Board what steps they are taking to start saving for the next roof now that the current one is new. My guess is your common fees need to increase 20% or more to properly reserve for future repairs. As you can imagine, that won’t be popular with unit owners who are unlikely to want to pay more today for tomorrow’s repairs. Yet, that is the right solution. Good luck!

Posts navigation

Friendly Answers to your Condo Questions

Mister Condo is here to give friendly advice and promote awareness of how to make the most of your condominium living experience. “Ask Mister Condo” is the friendly place to ask questions about all things condo. Mister Condo knows a lot of the answers but when he doesn’t, he isn’t afraid to ask a local expert for help in answering your questions. Mister Condo is not an attorney and offers no legal advice in this column. He is a very well-mannered condominium dweller with many years of practical experience living in several of Connecticut’s fine condominium communities. He asks that you be well-mannered as well so we can all enjoy the advice presented in this column. Please note that questions are answered on a "first come, first served" basis and that there may be a delay before your question and answer appear. Thank you for your patience.